In wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) telecommunication networks, signals are transported via optical fibers at different wavelengths within a wavelength band. Optical transceivers connected to an optical link are provided to transmit and receive optical signals. High-speed optical transceivers can use multi-level modulation formats and direct-detection receivers to offer high capacity transmission with low cost, reduced power consumption and low latency of the WDM system. Such transceivers are more vulnerable to chromatic dispersion (CD) related penalties than the common two-level (RZ or NRZ) amplitude modulation. Examples of such modulation formats being considered for transmission at high data rates (for instance 50 Gb/s or 100 Gb/s) are PAM4, DMT, and PAM8. These modulation formats require compensation of CD within tens of ps/nm to minimize any impact of CD on system performance determined by BER, Q factor, SNR, or other performance metrics. In conventional systems, precise chromatic dispersion estimation and compensation is cumbersome and inefficient for receivers with low chromatic dispersion tolerances. Accordingly, there is a need to provide a wavelength division multiplexed telecommunication system and a method for automatically compensating chromatic dispersion in a predetermined wavelength band minimizing residual chromatic dispersion efficiently and sufficiently even for a system with a very low chromatic dispersion tolerance.